


a journey (begins with a misstep)

by pancakesandplaid



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-08
Updated: 2013-08-08
Packaged: 2017-12-22 20:27:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/917686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pancakesandplaid/pseuds/pancakesandplaid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Conner wasn't sure how it began. Perhaps, like many things, it began with a misstep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a journey (begins with a misstep)

Conner wasn't sure how it began. Perhaps, like many things, it began with a misstep. An accidental step into Nightwing's personal space; the moment where Conner did not immediately remove himself seemed to drag long enough for Nightwing to make eye contact.

The moment was not long enough however, for him to see the look in Nightwing's expression.

At the time, Conner did not care for what he thought. Perhaps he thought that Superboy was too angry, too uncontrolled. Letting what happened with M'gann affect his attitude with the team.

All things considered, he probably should have cared more.

That night he came back to his room to see Nightwing lounging casually. Even when Conner closed the door, Nightwing simply looked at him, neither speaking.

Someone moved first. And soon Conner forgot the taste of the only other pair of lips he'd kissed.

Conner found himself being led by Nightwing's firm grip and experience, found that his back hit the bed and he hesitated. If only because he never went this far before.

Nightwing never pushed when Conner did not give an indication for him to keep going. He did speak when clothes started coming off, however.

"What we do is only skin-deep," he said, "And decide on a word. I'll stop when you say it."

"Whelmed."

Nightwing raised a brow from under his mask, but said no more after that.

It took a few minutes for Conner to regain his breath, but when he opened his eyes he saw Nightwing fixing his mask. Did it slip earlier? He had not noticed.

Nightwing put his suit back on and left. Conner closed his legs self-consciously, even though his partner never looked back.

They don't talk about what happened.

Conner became more reclusive as the days go by. He’d found that it was better to keep himself busy when collecting his thoughts. Working out his stress helped him work better with the team when it came to missions, after all.

In the end, he never got together with M'gann again.

If asked why, he'd say that M'gann saw the world too clearly in black and white, while he saw only greys. It was true, but that was only one out of many reasons.

Nightwing took an indefinite leave of absence, Aqualad informed them. Apparently Nightwing did not feel right in the team without Wally around. It seemed to Conner that he was not the only one who left out other truths.

A month passed and Conner wondered if Nightwing will return. An entire year, he thought that Nightwing must have found something to occupy himself with. Two years, and he realised it's been a quarter of his life without him.

He wasn't sure if he liked the thought of that.

 

 

It was April Fool's Day and Haly's Circus was doing a North America tour. Conner thought back on that mission years ago and supposed that he should feel glad the circus was still up and running.

The little trip to the circus started with Wonder Girl finding out about the circus and persuading Robin to come with, then M'gann heard about it and told them about the mission with the thief in Haly's Circus years ago. Eventually a few others decided to join in as well, to the chagrin of Robin and Wonder Girl. Conner found himself going.

The show itself was similar to the one the Dangers performed at years ago. Conner could hear Zatanna snickering about how she had her own performing acts to Batgirl, but someone from the side hushed them.

The couples went their own way after the show. The rest wanted to grab dinner. Conner managed to walk around alone, observing the various tents set up around the area.

He spotted a familiar silhouette speaking to the ringmaster.

“Thanks for the show, Haly.”

“For you, Dick, it’s always a pleasure. Ah, a friend of yours, I imagine. Dean Danger, was it?”

Conner looked up, not realising until then that he had been spotted. The ringmaster laughed and went back to his business after patting his conversation partner on the back.

Even in casual clothes and unmasked, Conner could tell it was Nightwing.

“Richard,” he greeted by way of introduction. ”Everyone just calls me Dick, though.”

They had dinner together. Conner spent the time observing Dick without his mask, how that night, his shoulders weren’t tense and his brows weren’t furrowed. A quarter of Conner’s life had gone without Dick and he drank in the sight of what has been missing like a parched man who had just stumbled upon an oasis in the desert.

It really wasn’t until then that Conner realised how much he’s missed Dick. It’s ridiculous, he knew. They barely even did anything personal together other than that one night, but Conner already knew that his feelings were often strong to the point of irrational.

They talked more after scaling up a building and finding a comfortable enough rooftop to lounge on.

Dick’s been commandeering a new team, but stepped down again recently. The Teen Titans, they were called. Conner’s met them once or twice on their own missions as Young Justice, but never saw Nightwing amongst them.

“Two years ago, I left because I became too much like Batman,” Dick finally admitted quietly.

Conner would have said something, or done something, but was interrupted by a call on his communication link. He took the call, but by the time he was done, Dick was already gone.

It was only after the mission, while Conner had a change of clothes, that a note, undoubtedly written by Dick, slipped out of his pocket.

_felt the aster today._

 

x

Conner didn’t live with the Kents, nor with Superman, as many people thought.

Barbara found out the hard way. She’d made his way over to Dick’s for an impromptu surprise visit, along with Artemis, to pass on birthday presents to him.

When Dick didn’t answer, they two simply allowed themselves in, wondering if they should have brought out party decorations after all.

They didn’t quite expect to see Dick and Conner asleep together on the couch, arms wrapped around each other. Wolf greeted the girls with a whine and a few sniffs, but went back to napping beside Sphere when they had nothing of interest.

Artemis took a photo as they woke.

“We’ll laugh about this later,” she smirked, even as she watched the two men’s eyes widen in shock.

**Author's Note:**

> * 1st april 2006 was when the Flying Graysons were sabotaged.  
> * teen titans. whether or not beast boy is on teen titans isn't really something i thought about, so i left him out.  
> * this is animated canon. so nothing's really changed other than that M'gann and Superboy didn't get back together.  
> the fic actually ended with the aster but it felt too abrupt so i had the little epilogue thing in.


End file.
